THE CITY GATE CHURCH
-Welcome to the School of Christ-
THURSDAY SCHOOL OF CHRIST
MINISTERING: Pst. Oladimeji Elugbadebo
REFERENCE ID: TCGC/THUR-SC-2018-05-10-1
TITLE ID: Unveiling the City of our God Pt.1 - The Greatness of Zion
Very few believers know what it means to be a Zionite. The
scriptures say that we have come up to Zion, the city of the Living God. When
you are coming for meetings, come prepared. Do not make assumptions about the
word, let your heart be opened and align your hearts to the Lord.
Interpretation of Tongues
I hear the Lord saying there is a numbering and a sealing going on
in this season. I am taking numbers and numbering people. Allow yourself to be
numbered. There are positions in the spirit, be numbered. Take your place,
allow me to work in you, stay and be rooted; you will grow.
What is Zion? What kind of church are we called to become? Are you
inetrseted in being part of this. Most believers do not care about their future
realities, as far as they are concerned, it is all about going to Heaven. Many
belivers have a certain kind of eternity perspective to life. The average
believer today does not think of life after this present world, as far as he is
concerned, he must get his possession here. That is good but God wants us to
get beyond this, much of our life is in eternity. Zion is not even a reality
for time. To have an understanding of all this as believers, you need to know
how to position yourself well. What are you seeing as a beliver.
But if ye be without
chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
- Hebrews 12:8 (kjv)
We have come to a ‘Mount’, this is not a physical mountain. We
need to understand what a mountain typifies in the spirit because we migrate
from one mountain in God to another. We are called to a kind of life that can
only be described using a mountain.
And the sound of a trumpet,
and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word
should not be spoken to them any more: (For they could not endure that which
was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned,
or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said,
I exceedingly fear and quake:)
- Hebrews 12:19-21 (kjv)
This was what happened on the mountain when Moses received the
commandments for the children of Israel. God spoke and His voice was so fearful
and they fled. They could not endure that which was commanded. Even Moses
feared.
But ye are come unto mount
Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an
innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the
firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the
spirits of just men made perfect,
- Hebrews 12:22-23 (kjv)
We need to understand what we are called to and to be properly
established in it. There is a strong relationship between Zion as a nation and
as a city. What is the difference between Zion and Jerusalem? Zion is typified
as the heavenly Jerusalem; a kind of assembly which is like a first fruit
company.
In Revelations 14, we see a company that stood on Mount Zion, this
company had been redeemed from the earth and they have become a company of the
lamb. There are records and books written concerning our journey here on the
earth. Many believers will cry at the last day when they realise how they have
spent their lives in their body because they failed to invest in eternity.
There is nothing about your life that is not written and there is nothing that
is hidden about you that God does not know. You can deceive men but you cannot
deceive God. God does not only see all things, he takes record; so, there are
books in the spirit.
Most of what we have been taught today about fulfilling destiny is
about getting jobs; being a doctor or being a banker. There is nothing wrong
about this if it is connected with eternal and divine plans.
And to Jesus the mediator
of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better
things than that of Abel.
- Hebrews 12:24 (kjv)
All these things are in Zion.
In this series, we will be defining what it means to become a Zion
Church. In the New Testament economy, every blood washed saint is a Zionite
called to Zion. However, there are levels in the Zion experience and there are
levels in the Zion order. Zion is like a mountain that has many mountains. When
I got born again, my spirit became a Zion spirit, however I must get to
the peak of Zion, I must climb Zion.
Ephesians says we are
seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (2:5-6), in the same Ephesians, it
says we are to stand and also grow up into Him in all things (4:11-15). So as
we are seated in the spirit, we are also to journey with the Lord everyday. We are
called to Zion but we must grow up into Zion’s stature.
Many believers are Zionites in the spirit, yet they do not know
what it means to live as a Zionite. We cannot overemphasise the fact that we
are called to climb and ascend Zion. The Zionic life is in layers. One of the
reasons why I appreciate Rick Joyner’s Final Quest is that it is biblical. In
the book, we see that they were instructed to climb a mountain and that
mountain had layers. It was at the peak of the mountain that they met the Father
and that peak was called the unconditional love of the Father; this is
scriptural.
We are called to ascend Zion, typifying our calling. The order in
Church will change very soon. There are two things that pull people to church
the most: first is miracles and signs, even when there is no ‘word’, people
will still gather. Believers are supposed to be taught the word, not fed with
miracles. The second thing is when people are taught how to make it here on
earth. There is nothing wrong in all these but the truth is that the New
Testament transcends these. We need to say these things over and over while we
place emphasis on teaching the word to the church.
As a believer, your highest calling is to ascend Zion.
Zion and Jerusalem are used interchangeably in the Bible but they
mean the same thing. They represent two aspects of the same city. Jerusalem is
built on a mountain. Zion represents the life and the inner quality of the
people while Jerusalem captures the outward life.
Project Zion is not a project of time, it will not be fulfilled in
time but in the age to come.
A Song and Psalm for the
sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our
God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the
whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great
King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge. For, lo, the kings were
assembled, they passed by together. They saw it, and so they marvelled; they
were troubled, and hasted away...
- Psalms 48:1-8 (kjv)
Greatness is generally assigned to the Godlife. Anything that is
great must have its source in divine life. There is no greatness in the
universe outside the life in the Godhead. What Zion is known for and celebrates
is the Godlife. A Zionite does not speak of himself, instead he gives all the
glory to God. Jane Lead (1677) prophesied about the Zion company that will
emerge and she said nothing man will be found in the company. The power of Zion
is that men are totally committed. If anything is great, it is because it is
God's.
And without controversy
great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in
the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
world, received up into glory.
- 1 Timothy 3:16 (kjv)
Greatness is an expression of divine life; anything that has to do
with God is great.
Great is the LORD, and
greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.
- Psalms 145:3 (kjv)
The Zion Church is a church where God has His place. Why do you
live? What is your hope? What is the very motivation behind your breath? The
more you are becoming a Zionite, the more your life is motivated by God. The
reason why you live is for the greatness of God. God’s greatness must be
exalted above every other thing. His greatness is unsearchable, the
unsearchable riches of Christ is the riches of God’s greatness. We are called
to preach nothing but the greatness of our God and the exalted life that is in
God.
Give ear, O ye heavens, and
I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop
as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the
tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: Because I will publish the name
of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, his work is
perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity,
just and right is he.
- Deuteronomy 32:1-4 (kjv)
Things that characterise the greatness of God
- He
is the rock
- He
is perfect
- He
is righteous and Just
- He
is the truth
It is the revelation of God’s greatness that causes you to partake
of His greatness. When we say God is great, it means these four things
mentioned.
God is ‘the rock’. The life of God is a rock life, it is a
foundation. When the Father reveals greatness to you, He is giving you His
foundation.
And I say also unto thee,
That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it.
- Matthew 16:18 (kjv)
God is not a fluke, He is dependable, He is a rock. If God says
it, He will do it. This is the very essence of God, He does not change. If He
says it, He is committed to do it. Man is unstable but God is constant. If God
says He loves you, He means it because God is rock, the Zionic life is a rock
life. Zion is a church that is embracing the likeness that is in God.
God has peace in the midst of the storm, it is because He is the
rock. The revelation of God’s greatness is the true foundation for man, the true
rock to build upon. The more we know God’s greatness, the more we know life. No
man can be compared to Christ; No man has gotten close to the legacy of Christ;
He laid it for all ages, this is the greatness of God’s life. When God’s
greatness is found in a man, that man leaves an eternal legacy. Zion expresses
this nature of God’s greatness.
2. God is perfect
The greatness of God’s life is complete, nothing needs to be
added. His work is perfect, if He does anything, it is perfect; nothing can be
subtracted and nothing can be added. The expression of the greatness of God in
perfection is that nothing needs to be added to His work and nothing needs to
be subtracted from it. This is why Zion is the perfection of beauty. The Zion
church is everything that God is.
Can a church be perfect? Yes, because God is perfect. When you
look at Zion, there is nothing that needs to be added. The Zion church is the
finished work of the Father.
‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’ does not refer to Christ in
your spirit, it refers to Christ that is being formed in your soul. When you
got born again, you received the Holy Ghost who prepares you for the formation
of Christ. Christ is formed in you over a period of time. It is the formation
of Christ in you that is the hope of glory.
Glory cloud is not the same thing as glory; it only helps us to
have more faith. A meeting must not be measured by the glory cloud present but
by the impact of the Word in the souls of men. At times, when God is making you
glorious, there is nothing physical to be seen around you. This is how God
works at times, He is trying to direct your heart to the real thing happening.
The church we see now have not yet come to a place where God is
seen in Her fully. As Jesus was, so also will Zion be; when you see Zion, you
will be seeing God clearly, you will see His image and glory.
3. God is Righteous and Just
Righteousness is that which is right before God’s sight. God’s
life is a right life. This is why He is taking away our life. Righteousness is
a life, it is a self governing life. It is a set life. To live righteously is
to live according to the manual that is in God; it is to live righteously, not
as a confession but as a profession. When you see Zion, you see God working in
them. Righteousness is not just supposed to be a hidden life in your spirit,
your very life should be righteous; it is a way of living. A time will come
that the church will fulfill this prophecy ‘He that doeth righteousness is
righteous...’
Your spirit has been made the righteousness of God but we are to
access the learning of righteousness and live righteously.
Jesus has forgiven you; Yes, but He came to terminate the law of
sin in your members. When Jesus finishes with you, sin will become history. A
church will rise, a church in whom sin will be history; they will not just say
it but will live it.
I believe God for perfection. You can live righteously in this
world, overcoming the law of sin and death completely.
4. God is Truth
Greatness exalts truth and vice versa. Nothing can be said to be
truth, if it is not God. Greatness is an expression of divine life and truth is
an expression of divine life. In Zion we speak only of the exaltation of divine
life.
Psalm 99:3
In Zion, we do not see ourselves, we see God. Some professionals
see their positions as high and even get offended if you do not address them by
their title. However, being a ‘brother’ (brethren) is higher than being a
professor. Let’s not exalt titles.
In Zion, the greatest you can become is to become the brother of
Christ. In Zion, we recognise you not by who you are on earth but by your
meekness. So, I respect you as a Zionite not because you have ‘cash’ but for
Christ in you. I do not respect you because of who you are in this world; In
Zion, a professor is not more special than a mechanic.
Let divine life flourish in you. I want to teach you how God sees
and how He perceives men.
Interpretation of Tongues 2
Times are changing, the seasons are changing. This is the time of
the end. I am changing all things and bringing all things back to order. I am
bringing all things to divine alignment. Get aligned with me because I am
changing all things; statuses are changing. I am shaking the heavens, things
that men have held onto for so long are changing. The life that is coming forth
is eternal. Learn of the life that is in me, for the life that is in Me is the
relevant life; for the life in me is significant in my sight. Become like me,
that is your calling.
This Life Is the joy of the whole world. Do not throw away what
you are learning.
Interpretation of Tongues
This is an oracle in the spirit. Come and eat for there is food in
Zion. Food that will make you complete and whole; food that will restore man to
his proper glory; food for the nations, for in these days, food shall be
supplied to nations. Food will be taken to the nations of the earth. The church
shall be known as a feeding center, I am raising my missionaries that will send
my food to nations of the earth. Food is here; food has come to man.
My joy as a New Testament pastor is to see Christ formed in my
church; your joy is to see Christ formed in your pastors. A true shepherd is
one that has introduced the flock to Christ. This is a serious thing, this is
real and there is a reward. You are on a race, let our eyes be fixed on Christ.
If the flock is seeing the pastor and not Christ, he is becoming a
veil, and operates with the Old Testament. New Testament ministers serve
trembling. This work is not tied to one man, so if a man is not responding, God
will raise many other men. New Testament ministers should be meek, there is
nothing we teach, that we did not receive.
The greatness of God’s life is what is exalted in Zion. Men are
not exalted in Zion, we need to be careful of praising men. We honor men, we do
not worship them. The more you understand the revelation of God’s greatness,
you will not want to take His glory.
Bless the LORD, O my soul.
O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
- Psalms 104:1 (kjv)
- Psalms 104:1 (kjv)
Thine, O LORD, is the
greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for
all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O
LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.
- 1 Chronicles 29:11 (kjv)
God owns everything, Satan is just bragging. At the end of the
day, we will know who owns all things. The greatness of God’s life is a life of
exaltation, a life that is separated from the earth and not in the class of any
life that is on the earth.
A Song and Psalm for the
sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our
God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the
whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.
- Psalms 48:1-2 (kjv)
The life of Zion is elevated, exalted, holy and pure. There is no
life here that is great. Greatness is not on the earth, greatness is in Zion
and is in God.
This world has its own definition of greatness.
And I will shake all
nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house
with glory, saith the LORD of
hosts.
- Haggai 2:7 (kjv)
Zion is the desire of nations, it is the nation that every nation
wants to be like. People make jest of the Church, in fact comedians do so but a
time is coming when nations will want to learn from the Church because Zion is
the joy of the whole world.
In Revelation 17, Babylon is described as great. If you have
not opened your eyes to see the greatness of God, you will call the things of
the world great. When people describe this world, it looks attractive and you
are not even proud to say you are a child of God. When you see what the world
calls great, you will feel inferior comparing yourself with it but that is not
greatness! If Christ is your vision, do not ever let the world determine your
joy or look down on you. Babylon always wants to counterfeit everything in
Zion. Babylon is also a city, a city also in the North, so you need to be
careful which way you take; if you do not know where you are going, you can
branch into Babylon. Babylon has a packaging, it has what Zion has on the
outside but on the inside, it is all a lie. This world has a false glory; the
glory of this world is a big deal here (Matthew 4:8) but the glory of Zion is
real.
When God shows His glory, you will see beauty in His life, there
is no beauty here, God’s life is beautiful.
For you to crack the falsehood of the greatness of this world, you
must see Zion.
It is only God that can beautify a man. Zion is God’s beauty and
He will show Her to the nations.
Out of Zion, the perfection
of beauty, God hath shined.
- Psalms 50:2 (kjv)
Beauty can be perfected. When you see beautiful people in the
natural, it is just a sign of the way God will beautify man. God will beautify
us, you will be so lost in His glory, you will be adorned with eternal glory
and beautified with His life. God’s life is great. What we celebrate in Zion is
the greatness of God’s life!
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